I think it might be helpful to people looking for something good to request to have individual songs rated with stars, in addition to having the entire soundtrack being rated. This will let people know what the best tracks on a certain ST are and also what the not-so-good tracks on a certain ST are. Also, many people rate a ST after only hearing two or three songs from it. If they rate after only those few, they may not rate it as high or low as they think it deserves had they heard the whole ST. By rating each individual track, there can be sure they are giving the rating they want to give. It would also help Jeric in "cleaning out" the playlist, as he wants to do this year. This way, maybe he would only take out the low-rated tracks as opposed to entire soundtracks.

Anyways, there's my two cents, what do you guys think?

-LOTRKing_________________"All you have to do is to decide what to do with the time that is given to you..." - Gandalf the Grey
"The past is but the beginning of a beginning, and all that is and has been is but the twilight of the dawn." - H.G. Wells

alien_avatar
Captain

Joined: Oct 28, 2006
Member#: 16007
Posts: 1289
Location: Berlin

Posted:
Fri Jan 26, 2007 4:54 pm Post subject:

I don't know if we "should" be able to rate individual tracks, but otherwise I'm totally in favor of the idea.
There are actually very few STs where I like every single track and more than a couple where I just like one track or three.
I try not to rate an album before I have listend to every single piece of music on it, but that way it can take weeks before I feel "qualified" to rate it._________________"Welcome to the paranoia club; cheapest fees in the universe and membership lasts forever."
- Peter F. Hamilton, The Evolutionary Void

My fear is that (new) members will only look at the rating of a track to request something and not try something that is new for them. This has a potential negative effect on the variety of the playlist. It might turn SST into a station where you hear the popular tracks every couple of days in a slightly different order._________________The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on Flying: The knack of throwing yourself at the ground and miss.
24SeVeN.FM Gadgets

My fear is that (new) members will only look at the rating of a track to request something and not try something that is new for them. This has a potential negative effect on the variety of the playlist. It might turn SST into a station where you hear the popular tracks every couple of days in a slightly different order.

You are absolutely right Stefan.

But on the other hand, we have info on how many times the cue has been requested and it can already be some kind of guide for requesters to the most popular tracks...

The result is: I'm undecided how to vote _________________"The piano keys
Are black and white
But they sound like a million colours in your mind"
(from Spider's Web by Katie Melua)
---
Avatar is from work of art by Drew Struzan

I voted no. Personally, the overall rating of an album gives me an idea whether a soundtrack is worth owning or not. If we did the individual track rating, I guess I could base it on how many tracks have good ratings(example: 2 out of 12 songs have high ratings). Of course, that's my two cents worth._________________"Diaper backward spells repaid. Think about it." ~ Marshall McLuhan

My fear is that (new) members will only look at the rating of a track to request something and not try something that is new for them. This has a potential negative effect on the variety of the playlist. It might turn SST into a station where you hear the popular tracks every couple of days in a slightly different order.

Good point.

Also, there are @ 47,000 tracks to review. That's a formidable task even for SST!_________________"After dark all cats are leopards." - Native American Proverb

I also voted no for several reasons including some of the ones mentioned already in this thread. But there was another reason I voted no and has not been mentioned in this thread yet. Recently, SST instituted the 'review album' feature. Personally I think if you would like to rate individual tracks then writing a review and covering what are the best tracks would be the best way to 'rate' the album. This will provide more information and be more useful for someone who is interested in selecting music from a CD.

I think the star rating system is so subjective but works well enough for rating an entire album, rating each individual track with the 'star system' would seem to be overkill. Just my two cents on the subject.

neowardog
Cadet 4

Joined: Jan 18, 2007
Member#: 16905
Posts: 16

Posted:
Wed Jan 31, 2007 2:38 pm Post subject:

I think it would be quite good to be able to rate individual tracks but to also keep the album rating aswell, because sometimes if i find out about a new release and want to request it for the queue, i don't always know which track to pick and might end up picking the only bad track!

I'd not rate individual tracks of a soundtrack -- but I could imagine rating individual tracks of a compilation for instance._________________"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe" - Blade Runner

I voted no. Simply for the point that Wolf makes. Rating is already difficult for the albums we have in the catalog. Rating individual tracks would be many times worse, probably be a factor of 10 or more. Plus, I would think that the coding involved for the site to keep track of this data on the database would take up far too much memory on the server and possibly bog down the operation of SST.

Nice idea, but not justified in my thinking.

If you think a particular track needs to be abolished from SST, set up a forum poll in the playlist section.

neowardog wrote:

I think it would be quite good to be able to rate individual tracks but to also keep the album rating aswell, because sometimes if i find out about a new release and want to request it for the queue, i don't always know which track to pick and might end up picking the only bad track!

If you request a bad track, that is a bad track to you but not to everyone. Beauty is in the eye, in this case ear, of the beholder. Just don't request that track for yourself again! _________________"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him." ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

"The thing that impresses me the most about America is the way parents obey their children." ~ King Edward VIII (1894 - 1972)

I voted no. I really like this station and the website but it seems to have a lot of things that complicate it. Perhaps one more is not such a good idea. The rating on the album does give me an idea of what the album might contain - after that, why not just try something new to check it out. _________________'It was irritating to me that I should need money. I shouldn't need it.' Ed, The January Man

Luther_III
Commander

Joined: Jun 20, 2005
Member#: 10621
Posts: 746
Location: New Orleans

Posted:
Thu Feb 01, 2007 10:45 am Post subject:

I've changed my mind on this.

I love the idea of individual tracks having their own ratings, in order to make informed requests, and to guide purchase of music. But I think in practice it just would not fly for all the reasons pointed out by others here.

_________________"If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.... I get most joy in life out of music."
--Albert Einstein